Our offices

Arup

Name

Arup

No. of employees

10,000 (2011)

Revenue

£880 million (2011)

Country

United Kingdom

Overview

Arup is an award-winning global engineering and design firm with a portfolio of innovative and instantly recognizable buildings and projects. Founded by Sir Ove Arup shortly after the Second World War, the firm now has a worldwide presence and has undertaken projects in over 160 countries.

The firm has worked with architects to realize a wide range of civil and commercial projects. Its portfolio includes such iconic buildings as the Sydney Opera House, Beijing’s CCTV tower and ‘Bird’s nest’ Olympic stadium, the Millennium foot bridge and the ‘Gherkin’ tower in London, UK, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

It has also managed many large-scale civil engineering projects such as the 2nd Avenue Subway in New York City, High Speed 1 railway near London, UK and Kansai International Airport near Osaka, Japan.

The firm, whose mission is “to shape a better world”, has always listed environmental sustainability among its key priorities for design and it is consistently placed amongst top performers in Corporate and Social Responsibility (CSR) rankings such as the ACCSR. To better articulate and integrate CSR into its practices, Arup developed a policy and internal strategy for sustainability in late 2007, and published its first annual sustainability report in 2008. Since then, it has pressed the imperative of good, responsible design even in harsh economic times.

Besides providing engineering services, Arup has a consultancy practice that advises clients on a range of management, operations and policy issues including planning, environment and sustainability. This allows the firm to leverage its expertise to have an impact on the sustainability of all kinds of construction projects. Arup also works with businesses and national and regional governments globally to develop policy on carbon management and climate change.

Current Activities

Arup is taking a leading role in delivering a low carbon world. Sustainable design has always been at the heart of Arup’s operations, whether design or consultancy. The firm is involved in several projects around the world that will help cut greenhouse gas emissions and provide a more sustainable economy.

As part of its sustainability commitment, Arup has developed a Sustainable Project Appraisal Routine (SPeAR®). This tool appraises projects based on key themes such as transport, biodiversity, culture, employment and skills, and can help Arup’s clients make sustainability decisions at any stage in a project.

Arup worked with The Climate Group to draw up practical guidelines to help Californian businesses meet the state's greenhouse gas emissions reduction policy, and the firm provides strategic advice to the Clinton Climate Initiative and co-authored the report on the C40, an alliance of 58 of the world’s biggest cities that aims to address climate change.

Smart Precincts for low carbon living

Arup is working with The Climate Group’s Australia office on the Climate Smart Precincts Initiative. We are facilitating a coalition of businesses and state governments working with flagship urban precincts to test the policies, technologies and new business models that will create a new integrated, precinct wide approach to urban design. The aim is to create low-carbon, climate resilient communities that can serve as examples of best practice for other planners and designers.

Electric car trial in the UK

This year, the firm is leading a groundbreaking trial of electric vehicles entitled Cabled in Coventry and Birmingham, UK, with a consortium of car manufacturers and energy suppliers. The trial aims to indentify the infrastructure needed for electric vehicles in the UK, and has already conducted the first real-world analysis of the cost of ‘refuelling’, along with an analysis of charging trends. It has also found that driver satisfaction of electric cars exceeds that for conventional gas cars.